


The Real One

by Lurkinginthecorner



Category: Hunger Games (2012) RPF, Josh Hutcherson - Fandom, Real Person Fiction, jennifer lawrence - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-07
Updated: 2014-10-07
Packaged: 2018-02-20 05:43:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2417084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lurkinginthecorner/pseuds/Lurkinginthecorner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When filming a particular scene from Catching Fire, Josh plans to make reality meet fiction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Real One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hiccupbuddies](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=hiccupbuddies).



> This is a standalone piece, unrelated to anything I've ever written.

This could have so easily ruined my whole plan.

Luckily enough, I haven’t yet passed the threshold of my hotel room when I remember that my precious accessory is still resting deep in the drawer of the night table adjacent to the side of the bed I usually sleep on. I stop short, shout at Andre that I’ll join him in a minute, and make a beeline for my bedroom, quickly retrieving the precious item and slipping it in the pocket of my jeans. They’re the only relatively loose pair of jeans I’ve brought with me here in Atlanta for the duration of our shoot, and I find that they hide pretty well the solid object knocking against my thigh with every step I make.

I ride the elevator down to the ground floor, put on my sunglasses and walk out of the hotel, searching for the car that will bring me and my best friend – and personal assistant – to work. When I finally spot the waiting car and get in, Andre doesn’t notice anything, as his attention is solely focused on the game he’s playing on his cell phone. Once I’ve buckled up, I follow his example, welcoming the distraction from my unusually anxious mind, and we ride to the set in complete silence.

I jump when my game is interrupted by an incoming text message.

Or rather, a photo message. When I open it, I’m blessed with a sight that makes me grin from ear to ear.

There, Jennifer poses while wearing her costume for the scene we’ll shoot this morning: a silver and black dress that highlights her lean silhouette perfectly. I take in her wicked smile and run my forefinger along her figure slowly, wishing I could be there already.

Jennifer and I usually arrive at work together, even though she needs to spend much more time in hair and make-up than I do. I use that time to walk around the set, get some directing tips from Francis, hang out with the crew, share a cup of coffee with my fellow cast members. But not today. Today, I’m taking advantage of my belated call time. I need to make sure everything is perfect for later.

I get back to her message.

JENNIFER: What do you think?

I quickly type an answer.

JOSH: That dress looks like a screw.

I send the message and start chuckling for myself, immediately adding a follow-up answer.

JOSH: Seriously. You’re gorgeous.

And she totally is. The dress hugs the curve of her hips perfectly, and she lights up with the silvery look of the fabric. Her hair has been loosely tied up, forming a bun at the back of her head, with a few rebel strands of dark hair framing her delicate face. Her smile is radiant, filling me with warmth even through the screen of my phone.

I can’t wait to see her, take her in my arms, kiss the side of her face in greeting. Even after dating for a while, I still crave the contact of her body against mine like crazy. And given that we have to keep our relationship mostly secret, any opportunity of cherishing her in public is welcome.

But she didn’t even wake me up before leaving my room this morning. Usually, I’d be disappointed, but I have to admit that for once, it was convenient.

“Stop grinning like an idiot,” Andre says, his eyes never leaving his phone screen. Despite my attempt at controlling it, I know my smile keeps getting wider.

“I’m not grinning like an idiot.”

“Oh yes you are. Any particular reason?”

I wish I could tell him. He’s my best friend - I usually tell him everything. But this time, I don’t want him to know what’s making me so excited. So I downplay it, trying as best as I can to fool him – and to my biggest surprise, it actually works.

“Look at her,” I say, stretching the arm holding the phone in his direction so I can show him the picture she just sent me. “She’s just lovely.”

He lets out a small laugh, before shaking his head and looking away, a big grin on his face.

“You’re so disgustingly cheesy when you’re in love.”

“Hey! I’m not cheesy!” I chuckle as my phone vibrates once more with a text message.

JENNIFER: Don’t forget that you’ll match. Gotta call you screwdriver today then.

I shake my head and try to contain my laughter, looking out at the passing scenery to avoid Andre’s judging stare. The driver pulls into the parking lot next to the studio where we’ve been filming for the last few days, stopping in front of the building as I slip my phone back in my pocket.

As I walk to the trailers at a fast pace, Andre following me at a distance, I glance at the pocket of my jeans one last time to reassure me that it’s not empty, as if I didn’t already feel with every step the weight of the thing resting at the bottom of it.

We finally reach the hair and makeup trailer, and I climb the steps quickly, greeting Ve, our main makeup artist, with a big cheer. She throws me a simple, but genuine smile as I remove my t-shirt and take my seat to have my hair done.

“You’re late today,” she remarks with a wink. “Jennifer has been ready for half-an-hour already.”

“I know.” I bite my lip and straighten my undershirt over my midsection. I wonder how much I can actually reveal to her. “I... had some plans.”

“Ohhhhh...” her face takes on a wicked expression. “A surprise?”

I lift my hands up in the air, shaking my head playfully.

“That’s all I’m gonna say!”

I hide a chuckle. Andre walks next to me, and I feel him stare at me with a puzzled look.

“You’ll see,” I add.

I stretch to get my phone out of my pocket and gaze some more at the picture Jen sent me while I was in the car. I try to visualize the scene, figure out if anything can go wrong. I’ve never been so nervous before a scene, even before acting a particularly tricky one. But this time, it’s different. It’s a special day. I can’t mess it up.

I’m about to send Jen a message when I receive another one.

JENNIFER: Where are youuuuuuuuuu?

I sense Ve curiously peeking at my phone over my shoulder as she can’t contain a giggle.

”You know, you should put a ring on it,” she says in the middle of her laughing. ”She looks pretty smitten with you. Though you’re still pretty young... how long have you been together officially? ”

”Almost a year and a half,” I say proudly, purposely not addressing the other part of her statement. From the moment Jennifer first walked up to me, at an awards show a few weeks before we were both cast in _The Hunger Games_ , something clicked between us. We would chat as if we had known each other for years. Looking at her would launch an army of butterflies in my stomach. And there already was this special glint in her eyes that’s still there today.

It took a few more months though before we got into the thick of things, as we started working together all day and spending every night together at the hotel, making each other laugh over silly stuff and generally not taking each other seriously at all. I already knew by that time that I loved her – but she kept hiding her true feelings from me, because for a reason that I still don’t get to this day, she couldn’t imagine that I could love her too. That whole misunderstanding finally got resolved when she playfully gave me a concussion on set, and felt so guilty afterwards that she suddenly turned more serious than I’ve ever seen her in the nearly two years that I’ve known her. That lead to some heartfelt discussions, where she let herself admit that she had fallen in love with me, and I did the same.

She immediately dumped her boyfriend officially, and we’ve been together ever since.

I know everyone has wedding ideas in their minds today because we’re filming the proposal scene for the movie. But I can’t help but dream about marrying her for real – I know she’s the woman of my life. I’m really fortunate that we found each other.

I’m so lost in my memories of Jen that I almost don’t notice Linda, the main hairstylist, starting to work on my hair. It only takes a few minutes before it’s done, and I barely have enough time to answer Jen’s message with a teasing one of my own, pretending that her desperation to see me is hilarious. She sends me a selfie of her flipping me off as a response, and I chuckle, before putting the phone back in my pocket so Ve can apply my makeup and turn me into a handsome guy.

And let’s be real, it takes much more work than whatever they do to hold my yellowed hair in place.

When Andre walks out of the trailer to fetch us both some breakfast at the catering tent, Ve leans in and speaks in a low voice.

“You know, I know what you’re planning to do.”

My eyes get wide.

“You do?”

“Francis told me. He had good reason, don’t be mad at him. I can help you though. Just leave it there and follow his instructions. I’ll make sure it gets to where it needs to be.”

I wonder for one second if I should go along with it, but then I figure it’s my best bet to remain unnoticed.

“Alright,” I say, fetching the object from my pocket and handing it to her. She quickly hides it in a drawer and holds her hands in the air as if she had never seen it.

“Come on.”

She motions for me to go, and I put a thick, white robe on before hurriedly making my way outside to the costumes trailer. If the hair and makeup trailer was pretty quiet – after all, Jennifer, Stanley and I are the only three actors on the call sheet this morning; there aren’t even extras needed for that scene – the costumes trailer is bubbling with activity as the crew makes the final adjustments to almost all of the outfits that will be worn in the next few days. I knock on the open door to catch Trish’s – the costume designer – attention, and she raises her head from the sketch she was studying, giving me a big, warm smile.

“Hey Josh! Getting ready to propose to your lovely?”

“I’m totally ready, you know me!”

I burst out laughing. From the outside, I look like my usual, cheerful self, but in reality, I’m bursting with nervousness. Trish writes a note on her sheet of paper before standing up, fetching my costume and handing me the hanger so I can go put it on.

“I hope you have a nice speech ready.”

“Of course I do,” I wink. In reality, I have no lines in the script for that scene. I’m supposed to improvise and say whatever I want, as the scene will be silently edited into the movie. I’ll just use my wits and come up with something on the spot, so I can try and make Jen break character.

Because there’s nothing I enjoy more than making her laugh, seeing her face light up with pleasure and her lips curl up in the biggest grin ever – and when it happens in a moment when she’s supposed to be in character, I would be lying if I said it doesn’t make me feel even prouder of myself.

I lock myself up in the dressing room and set the hanger on the table, unzipping the cover. I smile when I remember how stunning she was in her dress. And she remembered well – the black and silver suit does match her dress perfectly.

I quickly put on the costume – or at least, I try, as I struggle to slip into those awfully tight leather pants – and walk back into the main room, where Trish studies me one last time to make sure everything fits flawlessly.

“That looks good,” she finally says, straightening my jacket. “You can go!”

“Awesome. Thank you!”

I walk out of the trailer and spot Andre waiting for me by the steps with two transparent plastic boxes holding cinnamon rolls. Together, we stride to the studio, stuffing ourselves with the pastries on the way in. When I’m done, I lick my fingers clean of the frosting left on them and make a stop by the restroom, where I thoroughly wash my hands, staring at them absent-mindedly under the warm stream of water.

Those hands that will hold her fingers gently later on, when I get down on one knee to propose to her, all under the camera’s watchful eye. I let my gaze wander to the ring finger of my left hand, trying to imagine how a wedding band would look like on it.

I eventually walk out of the restroom, and when I don’t spot Andre anywhere near, I just shrug and keep trotting down to the stage.

When I find her, she’s looking at something on her phone, her back facing me. I smile and try to get to her as stealthily as possible, and it seems to work, because she doesn’t move until I feel her jump as I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her flush into my chest, resting my chin in the crook of her neck.

“I take it back,” I say in a low voice. “It doesn’t look like a screw.”

“Oh, God, Josh, you scared me!” She whispers, before relaxing into my embrace and covering my hands with her own. She then turns around and laces her arms around my neck, leaning in for a short greeting kiss.

“You look gorgeous,” I say as she pulls back a little. She eyes me up and down, a smug smile drawing itself on her lips.

“Those pants are awfully tight, “she remarks. “Is there room to breathe in there or? “

I chuckle.

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. “

Her eyes are fixed on my crotch, and if it weren’t that she’s already seen my package more times than I can count, I’d almost feel self-conscious with the heavy weight of her curious stare. I can’t help but tease her though.

“Like what you see? “

“Nope. “

I frown. She leans in to speak in my ear.

“I wanna see more. “

She winks before walking away from me, and I will my burgeoning erection to stay in line. Now, with those tight pants, it’s definitely not the time for a betraying hard-on.

She did it on purpose. Gotta start planning for payback soon. Wicked Jen.

I love her so much.

With a sigh, I follow her to a table built on the side of the stage, where Stanley and Francis are in the middle of a discussion over the script. I stop next to my director and try to peek over his shoulder, taking a look at his notes.

“We’re gonna start with the shot of Caesar introducing the clip,” Francis explains without even looking at me. We haven’t been working long together, but he can already anticipate most of my questions – and he’s always open to my suggestions. “And then we’ll film the proposal scene in itself.”

He turns to me and winks.

“We’re probably gonna need a few takes for this one.”

I give him a hard look, and he chuckles.

“I’m willing to bet you’re gonna ruin, hmmm... four takes because you won’t be able to stop laughing.”

“Only four takes?” Jen smiles, before walking up to me. “That’s under-estimating Josh.”

“Yeah, right,” I exchange a brief look with her, and my heart melts. As usual. “As if you weren’t responsible most of the time!”

“I’m willing to bet at least six.”

“Okay, six. But it’ll be by your fault, not mine.”

She shakes her head, before leaning into my ear.

“If you lose, you’re letting me do anything to you that I want tonight.”

I let my mind imagine all kinds of naughty scenarios, before leaning in next to her ear to whisper.

“You’re tempting me to lose on purpose now.”

She laces her arms around my waist and beams. Her breath softly caresses my face with the low hum of her voice.

“Now that wouldn’t be very professional.”

“You might have a point here.”

I chuckle, and she graces me with her beautiful, loud laugh. The deep sound that’s like music to my ears. Neither of us is paying any attention to Francis anymore, as he’s giving instructions to Stanley for the part of the sequence that doesn’t pertain to us at all. I stare into her eyes intensely, taking in all the love I see in them. But as much as I would like to stay there all day, enjoying the heat of her embrace, the red lights I can see in my peripheral vision totally ruin the mood.

“You know there’s a lot of cameras filming us for the BTS stuff right this moment.”

“I don’t give a fuck.”

She pulls me closer to her, and I take a deep breath, willing to calm my nerves for good. Everything will be fine. Everything will go according to plan.

The little voice still nags me at the back of my head, though. _What plan?_ If I’m being realistic, I’m totally, utterly unprepared for this; I’ll have to improvise, and just hope for the best.

“Hey, lovebirds!” Stanley’s voice throws us out of our bubble, and I feel Jen’s arms slide off my waist hastily. “Get a room!”

“Can’t,” Jen says, pulling away. “We’re at work.”

“You two are disgustingly cute.”

“Should we take that as a compliment?” I ask in return as Stanley follows Francis to his spot on the stage.

“I’ll let you think about it!” he yells with a laugh.

Jen gently pecks my lips, before holding her hand up in the air, pointing her ring finger and letting out a high pitched “Aaaaaaaack!”

“Good, so you’re gonna stop bugging me with that after today?

“Me? Not bugging you?” She pretends to huff. “I thought you knew me better than that, Hutch.”

“You know what I meant!”

“You can be sure I’ll annoy you with that forever,” she giggles, before grabbing my hand and leading me off the stage to an area with chairs, where we sit to watch Stanley act the scene. Jen stays silent for a moment, only reaching for my right hand. “At least until we’re married.”

“You know they don’t get married until the very end of _Mockingjay_?”

“I’m not talking about Peeta and Katniss.”

Her words sink in, my heart suddenly beating faster. She seems to avoid my gaze at all costs, looking all seriously at Stanley while he rehearses his line under Francis’s studying stare. I stroke the skin of her hand tenderly to incite her to look at me. She finally gives me a warm smile, and I decide to just let it go.

We stay there in total silence, watching the scene unfold before us, and as we predicted, it’s in the bag fairly quickly. Francis motions for us to join them on the stage, and we climb the stairs together, getting ready to shoot the first take. A prop assistant hands me the ring, and I take a few seconds to look at it before shoving it in the pocket of my jacket.

Time to focus on acting. The rest will come later.

I take my spot and breathe in deeply. Then, Francis calls “Action”, and I immediately get down on one knee.

I feel the leather skim along my naked skin before I can hear the terrible sound of the fabric tearing apart. The words come out of my mouth in a reflex, as I try my best not to break character despite the horror of what’s happening.

“I’m sorry, I ripped my pants,” I let out, unable to cover the small chuckle in my voice. Jen looks down at me with a huge grin, slightly breaking character too, but still giving me her hand. I focus on fetching the ring out of my pocket and sliding it on her finger quickly.

My first time ever proposing, and I rip my pants. Way to go, Josh.

“I can’t believe you ripped your pants!” Jen answers with a silly smile, making a grand gesture of happiness with her arms. “Yes! Yes!”

I hear the roar of laughter around us, but I barely pay attention to it. My only focus is on Jen, on her radiant smile, on her hands quickly cupping my face as she mouths a sweet “Love you” before leaning in to meet my lips while I get up from my kneeling position. I can feel the cold air of the studio chilling the surface of my skin that’s exposed by the gaping hole in my crotch. Jen opens her arms to hug me, and I pull her to me as close as I can. She hides her face behind her arm, her body slightly trembling with the laughter she can’t really control anymore. Stanley, whom I had totally forgotten in my mishap, joins us in an over-the-top three-way hug, and Francis finally calls “Cut”.

“Don’t move,” I say in a low voice, one that only Jen can make out. “Pull away slowly. Those pants were so tight...”

I don’t even need to finish my sentence. She pulls back just enough to see my face, her eyes wide as saucers.

“No way!”

“It wouldn’t have been Capitol-friendly if we’d seen the outline of my underwear,” I admit with a shy smile.

And it’s true. Those were the words of Trish when I tried on the costume for the first time. We decided to keep the tight-fitting look, but in return, I would have to go commando. It wasn’t a big deal to me... until I had to stand on a stage with my junk showcased for everyone to see.

I slide my hand between our bodies to wrap the fabric around my crotch as best as I can, feeling my cheeks get redder by the second as she finally pulls away from me. Stanley is still laughing his ass off, and I take a glance around to try and spot Trish. I see her running to the stage, a huge grin on her face.

“You better fix this!” I demand jokingly.

“Come with me!” she answers in between bouts of laughter.

I follow her without a look for anybody, suddenly mortified at what happened. The whole way to the costumes trailer feels like a walk of shame. I trudge with my hand between my legs, keeping them as close as I can while holding the fabric shut. When we finally find ourselves hidden in the privacy of the trailer, I breathe in a sigh of relief.

“That was... uncomfortable.”

“I can imagine! I’m so sorry, Josh.”

“It’s okay. Things happen. It could have been worse, you know.”

I bite my lip, hoping she won’t try to find out what I’m thinking, and I’m grateful when she doesn’t ask me any questions. I grasp my robe and walk in the dressing room, where I take off the jacket and pants, keeping only the black dress shirt on, slipping into my underwear and putting on the white robe before walking back out, the ripped garment resting over my arm.

“Here,” I say, handing her the pants. “I’m waiting.”

I lean against the counter, my arms crossed, a daring smile on my lips. She quickly gets to work, mending the piece of clothing in no time. When she’s almost done, she turns to me and smiles.

“That was unlucky. First time you propose, you rip your pants. I hope your next time will go better.”

She hands me the repaired pants and winks. I frown, but eventually shrug it off, thanking her before locking myself in the dressing room once again to put the costume back on. We make our way back on set quickly, and resume filming almost immediately.

This time, the stitches hold together quite nicely, even though with every take, every time I drop down to my knee, I fear for a repeat.

After a few more takes, Francis walks up to us, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“I wanna try something else. Come with me, I need to show you something.”

I stare at him with a puzzled expression, before following him to the same table we’d used earlier and where Stanley is going over the script again. On the surface lies a large wooden box with its cover held open. I peek in there, and find that it’s filled with an assortment of jewelry, mostly rings.

“I’m not sure the ring we picked was the right one,” he explains, and I scan the pieces of jewelry in front of me, trying to imagine which one Peeta would choose. I grab one with a small, green rock adorning it, and lift it in the air to check it out under the bright spots.

“Peeta knows Katniss’s favorite color is green by that point,” I remark. “I would think he’d probably pick this one. But seriously, that’s some shit attention to details you’ve got there. Do you really zoom in enough that we can see-”

“Are you sure he’d pick this one?”he interrupts me, his gaze insisting.

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, before looking up at Ve, who’s walking to us with a wide smile.

And then it clicks.

I meticulously scan the contents of the box again and finally spot it. The one ring that’s not a prop. The real one.

I take it gently, and Ve retrieves the small velvet box out of the pocket of her cardigan, handing it to me with a wink. I look up at Francis, who’s smiling at me like a proud dad would look at his son.

“That take is yours. Do you want me to film it anyway?”

I hadn’t thought about it. After a moment of hesitation, I nod.

“If she’s uncomfortable with it, we can always delete it after.”

“Good.”

He pats my back as I put the ring back in its box and shove it in the pocket of my jacket. With my heart drumming in my chest and my cheeks surely looking like they’re on fire, I hobble to my spot. Jennifer comes back from touch ups to her hair and makeup, and she immediately notices my unease.

“Are you okay hun?” She asks, rubbing her thumb on my cheek. I nod quickly, forcing a smile so I can hide my anxiety.

“Yes, yes!”

“Okay.”

She doesn’t look convinced, her eyebrows still deeply furrowed while she studies my face carefully. Francis chooses this moment to save me.

“Okay guys, this will probably be the final take. Give it all you’ve got.”

He winks at me, and I know the plan is in motion.

Once he calls “Action”, I get down on one knee much slower than I did for any of the other takes. Before uttering a single word, I take her hand and drop a light kiss on the back of it. I look up, and I can see under the mask of her character that she’s pretty confused, probably wondering why I’m acting it totally differently from anything we’ve tried so far. I clear my throat, and finally begin to speak in a soft voice.

“Jennifer.”

It doesn’t take her long to figure out where I’m heading. She covers her mouth with her free hand, while her eyes quickly glisten with unshed tears.

“I know we’re young. I know it’s totally crazy. But we’re both crazy, so it’s fitting, no?”

She nods. I get the box out of my pocket and flip it open, showing her the real ring, the one I had carried with me to set in the morning. Her eyes flicker between the ring and my face, as deep emotion overwhelms her features with each passing second.

“From the moment I met you, from that night you walked up to me with your bright pink dress at the SAG Awards, telling me I had inspired you to keep going and fulfill your dream, I knew we had a special connection. From that first phone call where we spoke all over each other, finishing each other’s sentences as if we’d known each other for all of our lives, I knew you were the one for me. As soon as you made it clear that you had feelings for me too, I started dreaming.”

I smile, my own eyes filling with tears. My voice trembles a bit as I keep going.

“I dreamed of a future with you. I dreamed of growing old by your side. I dreamed of sharing your life, filling your days with laughter, accompanying you on the road to realizing your own dreams. And I know, deep within me, that it’s what I want for the rest of my life. I love you. I could only hope that you wanted the same thing with me too.”

I pause. She wipes her eyes quickly. I silently will my voice to carry on for my last, hushed words.

“Jennifer, will you marry me?”

She keeps staring at me for what feels like hours before she finally comes out of her state of shock and nods rapidly.

“Yes! Of course, yes!”

I stand up, and she wraps her arms around my neck, burying her face in my shoulder.

“I love you so much,” she murmurs.

“Thank you.”

She pulls back, confused, and cradles my face.

“Why are you thanking me?”

“Because it’s pretty brave to accept to be tied for life to an idiot like me.”

“Oh, silly,” she presses her lips to mine. “It’s gonna be an honor to be tied to you for life.”

I smile. She lowers her voice to barely more than a whisper.

“But don’t expect me to stop annoying you.”

She shoves her hand in front of my face, and with a wink, she shrieks:

“Aaaaaaack!”


End file.
